A selection of photographs and broadcast-quality radio interviews are available for download for use by the media at: www.ruralwomensaward.gov.au/media2006

The first-ever Australian RIRDC Rural Women’s Award Winner is Queensland’s Martha Shepherd, a rainforest fruit grower.  Western Australia’s Bev Logue, a broad-acre farmer and bio-diesel expert, has been named runner-up.

Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Sussan Ley, congratulated the women on their outstanding achievements, at a reception in Canberra this week.

“The Award is all about increasing women’s capacity to contribute to agriculture and rural Australia by providing them with the support and resources to further develop their skills and abilities,” she said.

Australian RIRDC Rural Women’s Award 2006 Winner: Martha Shepherd - Queensland
Martha Shepherd established Galeru – a value added rural enterprise which produces a range of gourmet products from native rainforest fruits – some eight years ago with partner David Haviland.

The fruits come from the 3,000 plus native trees that Martha and David planted on their small farm in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The trees were purpose grown as a high value niche crop, with the farm developed to be an environmentally sustainable and commercially competitive enterprise.

Martha’s 35 years experience in the food industry, predominantly in the United States, has laid a strong foundation for her venture into a value-added rural enterprise.

Martha’s proposal is to develop a viable value chain management model, through which smaller producers can collaborate with regional processors to produce the quality and quantity of product necessary to ensure both economic and environmental viability for their businesses.

Australian RIRDC Rural Women’s Award 2006 Runner-up: Bev Logue - Western Australia
Bev Logue, with her husband, runs a broad-acre share-cropping business, comprising of 8,000 hectares, north of Geraldton.
Committed to sustainable farming practices, the Logues are licensed bio-diesel manufacturers and have been operating farm machinery on canola based bio-diesel blends for the past three seasons.

Bev’s vision is to see Australian farmers and the broader rural community embrace bio-diesel as an economic and environmentally friendly alternative fuel, sourced from renewable resources, that also frees farmers from their dependence for fuel on the three major oil companies.

RIRDC Rural Women’s Award Background
The RIRDC Rural Women’s Award was instigated in 2000 with the objective of increasing women’s capacity to contribute to agriculture and rural Australia, by providing them with the support and resources to further develop their skills and abilities.  Now in its seventh year, the Award is playing a pivotal role in the future sustainability of rural Australia,  encouraging rural women and their increased contribution to rural industries.

ENDS

A selection of photographs and broadcast-quality radio interviews are available for download for use by the media at: www.ruralwomensaward.gov.au/media2006

A media release from Agriculture Parliamentary Secretary the Hon Sussan Ley MP, announcing the winners, is available at: www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/media_releases
Media inquiries:  RIRDC - Martin Field - Phone 02 6272 4735 or martin.field@rirdc.gov.au